NEW YORK, June 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dreyfus Corporation (Dreyfus), a BNY Mellon company, announced today that it has launched the Dreyfus Opportunistic Emerging Markets Debt Fund, an actively managed mutual fund. The fund's objective is to seek to maximize total return by investing across emerging market debt asset classes including local and hard currency denominated debt issued from government, government-related and corporate issuers.

"We have seen a great deal of investor interest in finding ways to leverage the expanding opportunities and higher economic growth rates being experienced in many emerging economies," said Dreyfus President Charles Cardona. "The difficulty arises in gaining access to these markets or possessing the necessary research capabilities to navigate these opportunities. Dreyfus Opportunistic Emerging Markets Debt Fund looks to address these issues by providing professional money management and institutional access to help investors benefit from the growth occurring within the capital markets of emerging economies."

The fund, which is sub-advised by Standish Mellon Asset Management Company LLC, is managed by Alexander Kozhemiakin, managing director of emerging market strategies and senior portfolio manager responsible for managing all emerging market debt portfolios at Standish and Javier Murcio, portfolio manager and senior sovereign analyst.

"The investable universe of debt issued in emerging market countries has grown substantially in size and breadth over the last 30 years," Kozhemiakin said. "Emerging market debt, once predominately issued in U.S. dollars by government entities, has expanded to include hard and local currency denominations issued by sovereign, as well as corporation issuers. We employ an investment process that looks to take advantage of this expanded opportunity set by identifying shifts in country fundamentals and consider the risk-adjusted attractiveness of currency, issuer and duration returns for each emerging market country."

"Using these inputs," Kozhemiakin concluded, "We seek to identify the best opportunities on a risk-adjusted basis across emerging market debt instruments (including those issued by sovereign, quasi-sovereign and corporate issuers), currencies, and local interest rates."

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of a mutual fund carefully before investing. Contact your financial advisor or visit Dreyfus.com to obtain a prospectus that contains this and other information about a fund, and read it carefully before investing.

Notes to Editors:

The Dreyfus Corporation, established in 1951 and headquartered in New York City, is one of the nation's leading asset management and distribution companies, currently managing approximately $294 billion in assets.

Standish Mellon Asset Management Company LLC, with approximately $167 billion of assets under management, provides investment management services across a broad spectrum of fixed income asset classes. These include corporate credit, emerging markets debt (dollar-denominated and local currency), core / core plus, tax–sensitive, short duration, stable value and opportunistic (U.S. and global) strategies. Standish also offers full service capabilities in insurance client strategies and liability driven investing. The firm includes assets managed by Standish personnel acting as dual officers of The Dreyfus Corporation and The Bank of New York Mellon and Alcentra NY, LLC personnel acting as dual officers of Standish.

BNY Mellon Investment Management is one of the world's leading investment management organizations and one of the top U.S. wealth managers, with $1.4 trillion in assets under management. It encompasses BNY Mellon's affiliated investment management firms, wealth management services and global distribution companies. More information can be found at www.bnymellon.com.

BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 36 countries and more than 100 markets. As of March 31, 2013, BNY Mellon had $26.3 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.4 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com, or follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.

All information source BNY Mellon as of March 31, 2013. This press release is qualified for issuance in the US only and is for information purposes only. It does not constitute an offer or solicitation of securities or investment services or an endorsement thereof in any jurisdiction or in any circumstance in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful or not authorized. This press release is issued by BNY Mellon Investment Management to members of the financial press and media and the information contained herein should not be construed as investment advice. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. A BNY Mellon Company.

High yield bonds are subject to increased credit risk and are considered speculative in terms of the issuer's perceived ability to continue making interest payments on a timely basis and to repay principal upon maturity.

Investing internationally involves special risks, including changes in currency exchange rates, political and economic instability, less market liquidity, lack of comprehensive company information, and differing auditing and legal standards. Emerging markets tend to be more volatile than the markets of more mature economies, and generally have less diverse and less mature economic structures and less stable political systems than those of developed countries.

Investments in foreign currencies are subject to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar, or, in the case of hedged positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline relative to the currency being hedged.

The use of derivative instruments, such as options, futures and options on futures, forward contracts, swaps, options on swaps, and other credit derivatives, involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in the underlying assets. A small investment in derivatives could have a potentially large impact on the fund's performance.